Devastation 2011 Preview Night

Preview Night at Devastation 2011 was a great sneak peek at what Devastation 2011 held in store. Though a few of the stands were still getting set-up many vendors had managed to set up and there was a great section of arcades lining the right side of the ballroom. In addition the Mad Catz booth had set up a small area in their booth where people could play Street Fighter 4.

The competition is heating up and the tournaments haven't even started yet!

The booth was meant to show off the Mad Catz Fightstick controller which features a retro arcade setup that it seems the more serious players of traditional 2-D favor instead of the default Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 controller. Sadly, the other stations that were set up for Halo, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Soul Calibur IV and Street Fighter IV were not available. Though the stations for Heroes of Newearth and League of Legends were open and I was able to help them test the system by playing a few games on the League of Legend station.

The testers making sure that the computers are already for game day.

I was able to meet up with fellow video game blogger Brianna Shuttleworth and writers from geekRevolt. While I chatted with Andrew Jones of geekRevolt, we snacked on the gourmet spread that was laid out for guests. I was able to also to talk to a few of the vendors. While the heavy-hitters were all there: Best Buy, Windows Store, Mad Catz. There was also local vendors showcasing their wares, such as the local video game story called Game Zone. There I talked with Richard who was looking forward to the event and marveled at their collection of original Japanese video game soundtracks.I also meet with the owner of House of HaHa, Aaron Gardy who designs unique t-shirts featuring inside-jokes that were sure to illicit a chuckle from nerds of all kinds.

Aaron Gardy showcasing his unique designs

Finally, I talked to Eric Pederson and Max Gonzalez who both worked at, ManaTank a gaming website that provides news, reviews and commentary on video games. Eric was the co-founder and editor of ManaTank who wrote extensively on video games and Max was their media specialist. They explained to be that on top of their writings they also had a podcast where they would have special commentary and debates over all sorts of things in the world of gaming. When I inquired in to the Focus Fire booth that they were standing next too, they informed me that in fact Focus Fire was a video game tournament company that was providing all the consoles and monitors for the tournaments at Devastation 2011.

Eric and Max standing at their booth, right next to the Focus Fire Booth.

Preview Night was a great peek at Devastation 2011 and I look forward to seeing the rest of the event unfold.

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